Toy building structure



Oct.- 7, 1941. A. M. CAVALIER] TOY BUILDING STRUCTURE Filed Sept. 5,1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 b v? M ,/W/ 5 pa Oct. 7, 1941.

A. M. CAVALIER] 2,258,156

TOY BUILDING STRUCTURE I Filed Sept. 5; 1936 s Sheets-Sheet 2 InnkevriafOct. 7, 1941.

A. M. CAVALIER! TOY BUILDING STRUCTURXE s Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 5,1936 Patented Oct. 7, 1941 UNITED ;sTA

'T0Y BUILDING STRUCTURE. Anthcn'y M. Cavalieri, Buffalo, N. Y.Application September 5, 193 Serial No. 99,607

3 Claims. o1. ls -2s) to be entertaining and fascinating as well aseducational to both children and adults, and which is further sodesigned as to permit the building of several different types of homesand like structures having a plurality of different and optionalexteriors or facial effects with one set of the building blocks.

Another object of theinventi'on is the provision of a set of buildingblocks or units which are self-locking to make for a completed rigidstructure, which require no separate or detachable fasteners for holdingthem'in place and which can be readily set-up and knocked down whendesired. n r

A further object is to providea set of building blocks or units whoseindividual parts are so proportioned-and designed as to eifect acontinuity of the structural parts during assembly, irrespective of thestyle or typeof house being built.

A still further object is the provision of a set of buildingblocks-embodying bothpside wall and roof parts or elements as well aswindow sash and door frames, and wherein such parts are sodimensioned asto afford their uniform assembly. v 7 Other features of constructionreside in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafterdescribed and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. I 1

In the accompanyingv drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a house assembled from the buildingunits of my invention, and showing the exterior face thereofrepresentative of a combination of brick and stone. Figures 2 and 3 arefragmentary perspective views of a house showing the exterior facesthereof representative of stone and brick, respectively. Figure 4 is anenlarged fragmentary perspective view of the house'shown in Figure lshowing the structural interlocking of the side walls, roof and sashframes. Figures 5, 6 and 7 are perspective mentary perspective view ofthe molding or beading strip for the roof." Figure 13 is a fragmentaryperspective View of one of the stay-bars orrafters forsupporting theroof pieces.

' Similar characters of reference indicat corresponding parts throughoutthe several views.

Referring now to the drawings, 15 indicates a plurality ofbuildingblocks which are preferably made of woodor like material and which arerectangular in shape and twice'as long as they are wide. These blocksare provided at their sides and ends with painted or otherwise producedfacial characteristics or representations .to imitate the. structuralappearance of brick, stone, concrete-and like building materials,whereby a house may be built to simulate either all brick or all stoneor a combination of the two, Figure '1 indicating a house made of acombination of brick and'stone, Figure 2 indicating a house made of.stone,and Figure 3'indicating a house made Of' bIiCk; For-this; purposeand toiinsure, the proper side and end exposures of the blocks whenbuilding'houses of different structuralappe'arances, 1- preferablyprovide in the building set constitutingmy invention two groups ofblocks, the blocks-of one group being called the 3 and 1 blockand somecorresponding to the one shown in Figure 5, wherein one side and twoends of the block represent, as indicated at It, one form of buildingstructure, such as brick, and the opposite side represents, as indicatedat IT, a different form of building structure, say stone, Whl1eOtheIfib10CkS of this group are reversed from that shown in Figure 5,havingoneside and two ends of stone and the opposite side of brick. Theblocks of the other group are called the 2 and2 blocks and are shown inFigures 6 and '7, the block shown in Figure 6 being a right hand blockand having its opposite sides and opposite ends of different structuralappearances with the front side [8 thereof being the same in appearanceas the right hand end IQ of the block and with itsrear side 20 andopposite endZl-being of the same facialappearance but different from thefirstnamed side and end; the block shown in Figure 7 is a; left handblock wherein its front side 22 views of the side wall blocks. Figure 3is a frag mentary perspective view of' ,.t heisash frame,

showing the manner of its interlocking with the ridge piece of theroof!" Figure-121s a fragand its left hand end 23 are of the same facialappearance, as, brick, while its rear, side 24 and right hand end 25 areof Ja-different facial appearancaas shown. By this group blockstructurejit is possible to properly match the blocks to meet all;conditionswhich may arise during theibuilding of a. house sothat auniformity and at all sides and corners of the house. The real purposeand necessity of this group structure can be observed from Figures 1, 2and 3 and particularly by observing the building-corners, as when acourse of blocks along one wall is connected with an adjoining wall atright angles in the same figure, and a few may. .bebeveled at both ends,as indicated at 28, to serve as peak or roof-engaging corner blocks. mayalso be in sets to provide right and left, hand blocks corresponding tothose shown in Figures 6 and 7.

The blocks are preferably detachably interlocked with one another inbreak-joint fashion to provide a rigid wall structure through the mediumof dowel-pins 29; and mating holes 30,0r like means. As shown in Figure5, each of the blocks l may have two dowel-pins projecting from its topside and alining holes in its bottom side, and in, practice the blocksare drilled with two holes and the dowel-pins may be glued or otherwisesecured, in the upper portions of such holes, or they may be detachablyfitted in the holes by friction and inserted during'the buildingoperation. Each half block is provided with one dowel-pin and acompanion hole. In addition to interlocking the blocks in. courses, thedowel-pins serve in some instances as anchoring pins for the roof-beamsor stay-bars and also as a means for interlocking the window anddoor-frames in place as will hereinafter appear.

Referring more particularly to Figure 4, the numeral 3| indicatesadjustable, telescopic staybars or beams which are used to reinforce theupper ends of the building-walls and serve as supports or rafters forthe roof-pieces or boards indicated at 32, 33 and 34 These stay-bars maybe made of sheet metal and are substantially U- shaped in cross-sectionwith their sides sloping inwardly to conform to the usual pitch of theroof. as seen in Figure 13, which are adapted to detachably engage theadjoining dowel-pin 29 in a companion block l5, positioned for thatpurpose, such block being disposed crosswise of the building-Wall sothat its inner end overhangs such wall and exposes one of its dowels forengagementwith a stay-bar, as shown in Figure 4.

The roof-boards are reversible and may be painted or otherwise faciallytreated on both sides to represent difierent roof-structures, asshingle, tile, etc., and they are so proportioned in width and length asto conform to the dimensions of the blocks I5 so that the roof-boardswhen laid will properly match the side wall dimensions of the building.For example, I have shown three widths of roof-boards, the roofboard 32being the same in width as the length of the standard blocks I5, theroof-board 33 being the same in width as the half blocks 26, and theroof-board 34 being once and half as long as said blocks l5. As shown inFigures i, 9 and 10, these roof-boards. are adapted to-detachablyinterlock with one another at. their sides and ends and for this purposeeach board 32,33, 34. is

These block At their ends these bars have holes 35,

provided at one of its longitudinal edges with a tenon 36 and at itsopposite edge with a companion groove 31. Each end of the board isprovided with a transverse groove 38 and tenon 39 to provide a scarf-like joint to hold the adjoining boards against endwise displacement,the joint elements at the ends being disposed reversely to each other.At its peak the roof may be provided with a ridge or finishing strip 40having tenons M and. grooves 42 which slidingly interlock with thealining mating grooves 38 and tenons 39, respectively, of theroof-boards, this strip serving to jointly engage the abutting,intersecting roof-boards at the opposite sides of the roof and securelycoupling them against separation. At its edges the roof may be providedwith molding strips 43 which are grooved to either; inter-lock with theexposed tenons 35 of the endmost roof-boards, or to receive a tenon 4-4to mate with the exposed groove 31 of a roofboard; As shown in Figure 4,the roof-boards are of; different proportionate lengths to result in;straight, uniform edges at the top and bottom edges of: theroof, andsome of the boards are of such length asto provide for the overhangofthe roof.

The window and door openings are indicated at 45 and 46, respectively,and fitted in these openings are detachable frames which preferablconsist of' jointed strips 41 disposed along the side andtop and bottomedges of the openings, and which are grooved, as indicated at 48 tointerlock with the dowel-pins 29 on those blocks 15 constituting thelower edge of the openings 45 and 46, as shown in Figures i and 8, andif desired the top of; the frame may interlock with dowelpins fittedin;the:b0tt0ms of thecontiguous blocks l5. At one end, each of theseframe-strips may be provided with side extensions 49, which embrace theopposing end of an adjoining strip when assembling the frame, as seen inFigure 8. At its opposite end, each frame strip may have a endwiseopening notch 50, to register with any interfering dowel-pin. Thesestrips likewisemay be made in varying lengths proportionate to theblocks l5 for making window and door openings of different sizes.Furthermorethe frame-strips 4-! may bepainted in different colors. alongtheir inner and outer edges to carry out any color scheme desired andfor this purpose said strips are readily reversible in theframe-openings. The window panes. 51 may be made of paper suitablyfitted in the frame-strips 41 and they may be printed or colored ontheir opposite sides to indicate clear or leaded glass or the like.

I claim as my invention:

1. A toy building block structure, comprising a plurality of blockshaving dowel-pins and holes adjacent their ends and in the top andbottom thereof, respectively, for locking them in courses to form sidewalls, certain, of said blocks being adapted for disposition crosswiseof a wall to project inwardly beyond such wall and expose a dowel-pin,and rafter members adapted for supporting engagement at their ends withsaid crosswise-positioned blocks and having openings therein engageablewith the dowel-pins of such blocks.

2. A toy building block structure, comprising a plurality of blockshaving dowel-pins and holes adjacent their ends and in the top andbottom thereof, respectively, for locking them in courses to. form sidewalls, certain of said blocks being adapted for disposition crosswise ofa Wall to project inwardly beyond such wall and expose their edges forinterlocking them with one another.

3. A toy building block structure, comprising a plurality of blockshaving dowel-pins and holes adjacent their ends and in the top andbottom thereof, respectively, for locking them in courses to form sidewalls, and intervening window openings, the dowel-pins-of the course ofblocks constituting the bottom edge of such an opening being exposed,and a window frame adapted to be detachably fitted in said opening andincluding separable side and top and bottom sections having means forinterlocking them to one another, the outer edges of such sections beinglongitudinally grooved and one or another of such grooved sections beingadapted to interlock with those dowel pins rising from the row of blocksconstituting the bottom edge of the windowopening.

ANTHONY M. CAVALIERI.

